Boyda addresses criticism over spying bill

Posted: Thursday, February 28, 2008

By Tim Carpenter

Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., denounced Wednesday an effort by Republicans to distort opposition to federal legislation making it easier for government to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails passing through the United States.

Boyda, who represents Topeka in Congress, has been a target of attacks by the Kansas Republican Party and the National Republican Congressional Committee regarding her criticism of a Senate plan to broaden executive powers on interception of communications by potential terrorists. President Bush endorses the Senate bill.

"The White House is trying to scare Americans to give total control to one branch of government," Boyda said in an interview from Washington. "The Republicans don't have the guts to stand up to the president. They're afraid of some 30-second ad that could be run against them."

The subject of debate is renewal of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The Kansas congressional delegation is split along party lines, with Republicans favoring the Senate approach and Democrats against it.

Christian Morgan, state GOP executive director, said Boyda and Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., would prefer "our intelligence community to move back into the dark ages of intelligence."

"Democrats who are tearing down vital parts of our national security defenses," Morgan said.

FISA has required the government to obtain permission from a special court for surveillance in the United States on foreign targets. Changes in technology over the past 30 years mean much of the world's computer and telephone traffic passes through the United States on fiber-optic cable. This offers U.S. agents an opportunity to track communications by people who may plot against this country.

Current federal law permits the government to go after fleeting targets and seek a court order three days after initiating a wiretap.

The Senate-passed bill would eliminate the FISA court and grant immunity from civil lawsuits to telecommunications companies that helped the government with past wiretapping programs.

The House bill favored by Boyda would preserve the secret court and extend to 14 days the time for obtaining after-the-fact court permission for a wiretap. The House isn't offering telecom immunity.